Horse-detacher.



Nrrn STATESv JOHN H. RODGERS, OF HASTINGS, NEBRASKA.

HORSE-DETACHER.

SPECIFEGATlON forming part of Letters Patent N o. 692,357, datedFebruary 4, 1902.

Application tiled April 27, 1901.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that LJOHN H. RoDGERs,a citizen of the United States,residing at Hastings, in the county of Adams and State of Nebraska, haveinvented a new and useful Detaching- Harness, of which the following isa specification.

This invention relates to detaching-harness, and the object of thesameis to provide simple and effective means in connection'with harnessand the thills of a vehicle for readily detaching a horse Withoutrequiring unbuckling of straps or other devices, and controllable by theoccupant of the vehicle.

The invention consists in the construction and arrangement of theseveral parts, which will be more fully hereinafter described andclaimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a portion ot' avehicle and thills and harness applied, showing the improved fea-l turesembodying the principle of the invention. Fig. 2 is a top plan view of asingletree, showing a part of the mechanism thereon. Fig. 3 is a similarview of a portion of a thill, showing the devices thereon in dierentposition and a portion of said devices removed, as shown by Fig. 2. Fig.4 is a transverse vertical section on'the line 4 4, Fig. 2. Figs. 5, 6,and 7 are detail views of dil'erent parts of the mechanism.

Similar numerals of reference are employed to indicate correspondingparts in the several) views.

The numeral l designates thills of any preferred contour, having asingletree 2 and attached to the running-gear of a vehicle in theordinary manner, the vehicle having a body 3, with an opening 4 throughthe front endV thereof to one side of the center.

The harness 5 is of the usual form, with the exception that noholdback-straps are used in connection therewith, as in ordinaryharness, and in place of said straps elongated straps 6 are adjustablysecured to the front terminal rings of the breeching 7, the front endsof said straps 6 being attached to the inner portions of the tugs 8 andthe latter held down in place by straps 9, running to the girth below.rlhe tugs are provided with a metallic lining 10 to cause them to easilyslip off the thills, and to facilitate this easy movement of the tugs inSerial No. 57,829. (No model.)

thedetaching operation the under, portions of the front extremities ofthe thills have metallic plates 11 secured thereto. The tugs are heldback by the straps 6 against under angular braces 12, which areadjustably applied to the thills, and by having the straps 6 adjustableand the braces likewise movable at will the several parts may be easilyarranged to suit horses of different lengths.

On the center of the upper side of the singletree a disk 13 is securedand is formed with a'centralsocket 14,which has an upstanding pin 15adjacent thereto, headed studs 16 being also located at'diametricallyopposite points in relation to the said disk. On this disk 13a shiftingdisk 17 is movably mounted and is formed with opposite segmental slots18 of equal length and in concentric relation to the said shifting disk,the said slots having the reverse terminals thereof formed with seatenlargements 19. In the under side of the said shifting disk 17 a socket2O is formed to re? ceive a spring 2l, surrounding a central hub 22,integral with or forminga part of the latter disk and rotatably tted inthe socket 14 of the disk 13, one end of the spring being secured tothedisk 17 and the opposite end thereof to the pin 15 of the disk 13, sothatrwhen the said disk 17 is turned into a detaching position thespring will be wound and a release of the disk 17 will cause the springto return the latter in automatic manner to normal position. The disk 17is provided With a peripheral lug 23, having an aperture therein, towhich one end of a compensating spring 24 is secured, a pull-cord 25 orthe like being secured to the opposite end of the said spring 24 andpassed through the opening 4 in the front end 3 of the vehicle-bodywithin convenient reaching distance of the occupant of a vehicle. Theupper central portion of the disk 17 also has a shouldered hubprojection 26, with the reduced portion 27 thereof seated in a centralsocket in the top portion ofa cap 28, provided with a peripheral iiange29, which incloses the said disk 17. A space is formed between the upperside of the disk 17 and the top of the cap, and movably engaging thesegmental slots 18 are 'the inner angularly-bent or hooked ends 3'0 ofslidablc controlling-rods 31, which are held on the upper side of thesingletree in guides 32, the

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said rods being freely movable in said space and throughdiametrically-opposed slots 33 in the flange 29 of the cap 28 and havethe said hooked ends thereof normally located in the seat enlargements19 of the slots 18. The cap' 28 is held down in place on the disk 13over the disk 17 through the medium of oppositely-disposed angular toes34, which are slotted and engage lthe headed studs 16. The outerextremities of the rods 3l are formed with irregular coils 35, withthroats 36 dened between a porl ion of the same and open at the front,the said coils being of dimensions corresponding to the taper of theouter reduced ends of the singletree to snugly fit over said ends, asclearly shown by Fig. 2'. The throats 36 permit the rear ends ot' thetraces 37 to be disposed between the coils at each side, and when therods 3l are operated by the disk 17 to simultaneously push the traceends od from the outer ends of the singletree the traces will reliablyclear or become fully released from the said coils. It is obvious thatthe rear ends of the traces may be provided with any suitable devicesfor iitting over the opposite ends of the singletree, and the said endsof the latter may also be provided with suitable correspondingr devicesthat will let the trace ends readily slip oit the same. By pulling onthe cord 25 the disk 17 will beilnrned against the resistance of thespring 21, and force the rods equally and simultaneously outward, andthereby release both traces from the singletree, and as there will be nofurther obstruction to the movement ot' the animal from between thethills and outward from the latter he will release himself by movingforward,

and thereby save the time usually employed in disconnecting straps,snap-hooks, and the like. When the rods move outwardly, as explained,they remain in such position when the-disk 17 returns to normal positionby reason of the segmental slot construction in said disk, and when theoperation of hitching up the animal is carried on the only attachmentmade is the connection of the trace ends,

which are inserted in the throats 36 and the rods 3l then individuallypushed inwardly by push ott the ends of the traces from the singletrees.A simultaneous movement of the rods 31 is also insured by thisconstruction, so that the trace ends may be released at one and the sametime without danger of a drag on one side or the other of thesingletree. Moreover, when the rods 31 are manually pushed inwardly toconnect the trace ends to the singletree they dispose said trace ends atlike distances from the ends of the singletree.

The advantages of the simple detachingharness devices heretoforeexplained will be readily appreciated, particularly the time saved indetaching a horse or other animal from a vehicle.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is- 1. Thecombination with a singletree of a spring-actuated rotatable disk havingindependent segmental slots concentrically arranged therein withreversely-disposed terminal seats formed by enlarging the said slots atsaid points, controlling-rods of equal length longitudinally slidable onthe singletree on opposite sides of the center of the latter and havingtheir inner extremities bent at an angle and loosely engaging saidslots, the outer extremities of the said rods being coiled to move theends of the traces o from and inwardly over the opposite ends of thesingletree, the coiled extremities having forwardlyopening throats, acap mounted over said disk and having opposite slots through which therods movably extend and also provided with angular toes adjacent to saidslots for securement to the disk, and an operating pull device attachedto the disk and extending backwardly to the vehicle.

2. The combination with a singletree, of a spring-actuated rotatabledisk having opposite segmental slots therein, controlling-rodslongitudinally slidable on said singletree and having inner angular'extremities loosely engaging said slots and free to be shoved inwardlyby a manual operation, the outer ends of the said slots being coiled andprovided with forwardly-opening throats to move the ends of the tracesoff from and inwardly over the ends of the singletree, a cap mountedover said disk and having opposite slots through which the rods movablyextend, and angular toes adjacent to said slots for securement to thedisk, and means for operating the disk to move the trace ends off fromthe ends of the singletree.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixedmy signature in the presence of two witnesses.

JOHN H. RODGERS.

Witnesses:

JOHN M. HINER, W. D. ABBOTT.

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